Last December, SEC charged Ripple Labs executives Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larson for dealing with unregistered securities. Since then, the case of Ripple Labs versus SEC has been running in the court of law. Many cryptocurrency proponents claim that this is one of the most crucial cases due to its subject matter. This case can determine the future of cryptocurrencies in the United States.
Recently, the Ripple Labs lawyers asked for access to the internal communication of the SEC. According to the defense, SEC has failed to provide solid grounds for their disqualification of XRP as a legitimate cryptocurrency. While, other altcoins like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and many have been exempted from this legal scrutiny. Recently the court has issued a date for conducting a telephonic conference between the parties for sharing their narrative on the matter.
SEC Challenges Ripple Labs Defense Statement
SEC lawyers attempted to wave off the charges posed by Ripple Labs by invoking deliberative process information. As per this clause, any state agency is protected by the law against revealing their motives behind disclosing their internal processes and communication for forming a policy or ruling. However, the court waved off the privilege in May and directed SEC to produce the internal communication.
However, the court allowed SEC to refrain from sharing their communication related to the said matter. In the next telephonic conversation, SEC must share their inter-agency memo about the virtual currency investigation. This information can allow the court to determine if SEC has a good basis for the case or it can be dismissed.
SEC has extensive experience in dealing with financial legal cases. The watchdog has compelled the defense lawyers to go through the pile of more than one million messages. This is the whole record of business communication that is performed on the inter-office communication application. As per SEC, this mountain of data includes critical evidence.
SEC can use this evidence in the court against Ripple without having to revoke the declaration of evidence. The next telephonic conversation is going to reveal what the prosecution lawyers are planning to hit Ripple Labs with. As per the ruling of the District Court in South New York under Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn, the telephonic conference is going to take place on August 31.
